Friday, July 20, 2018

As we enjoy this beautiful summer weather, walking or
driving down country trails and roads, be sure to keep an eye out for turtles. Turtles have been revered by cultures around
the world. They are often viewed as wise
beings, symbols of longevity, messengers between this and the spirit world or
as some northeastern indigenous people believed in the creation of our world on
Turtle Island. Many eastern tribes,
including the Lenape and Iroquois, had similar creation stories. They believed that in the beginning the world
was covered entirely with water. There was an island in the sky where the Sky
People lived. No one died or was born
there, and all was well. Until Sky Woman
fell through a hole toward the sea where she landed on grandmother turtle or Turtle
Island. Various water animals took turns
diving to the bottom of the sea trying to bring mud to spread on the turtles
back. Eventually one succeeds (depending
on the version of the story as to which animal succeeded), but they did and when
placed on the turtle’s back it created land that grew and grew eventually
becoming the size of North America. This
over simplification of the creation story is derived from several versions and
from several tribes, this and in other legends about turtles can be found here.

Turtles appear repeatedly throughout native legends
demonstrating their relevance to human society.
This respect is recognized in the archaeological record by the many pendants,
ornaments and effigies discovered on Northeastern sites. Kinsey (1989) suggests that reptiles “constitute
15% of the Susquehannock [study of zoomorphic images] sample and less than 4%
of the Seneca sample and these are limited to turtles and snakes; the former is
the most common”. In Pennsylvania,
turtle pendants are more prevalent than pipe effigies, but there have been several
found in other states.

There is a very interesting pendant that was recovered from
the Flint Mine Hill site in New York.
This site is described as “a vast industrial complex consisting of numerous
quarry pits, quarry and production refuse piles, small campsites, and extensive
workshops where chert was knapped” (Lenik, 2010). The pendant depicts a turtle surrounded by a
snake and is carved on both sides. Suggested
interpretations are that it is an amulet meant to drive away demons by
depicting a snake devouring another animal (Parker, 1925) or as perhaps the
snake invoking a guardian spirit to protect the wearer who was of the turtle
clan (Lenik, 2010)

Not only are turtles represented on portable artifacts, but
they are also found as petroglyphs and as effigy rock features. Petroglyph sites in Pennsylvania, Ohio and
West Virginia were documented by James Swauger, many of which exhibit designs
interpreted as turtles.

There are also several examples of effigy rock features in North
Dakota and the Lake of the Woods region of Canada.

It is clear that turtles have been revered by indigenous
people since at least the Archaic period (Pearce, 2005), by the variety of specialized
images presented. Physical turtle shells
are also represented in the archaeological record. Their shells were used as utilitarian objects
like bowls and scoops.

They have been
found in ceremonial contexts like the burials at Serpent Mound, where unmodified
turtle shells were found next to human skeletal remains (Pearce, 2005). Rattles made of turtle shell have been found
on numerous sites and are ethnographically documented in ceremonial use, such
as the False Face Society.

Turtles have been esteemed by cultures around the world, so
it is no surprise that Native Americans respected this now often-overlooked
creature as well. So, keep in mind the
special turtle as you explore mother nature this summer and if by chance you
see one along the roadside maybe give this noble creature some respect and if
safe, a hand in crossing.

Friday, July 6, 2018

Marine shells were an important medium of exotic exchange among
native societies of the Middle Atlantic and Upper Ohio Valley societies during
the Late Woodland (1000 – 1550 AD). The recovery of shell from archaeological
sites of this period is archaeologically traceable well into the Appalachian
Mountains and other far flung regions of Pennsylvania’s interior. These areas
are principally centered on the lower Upper Ohio Valley at sites in the
Monongahela -Youghiogheny drainage of southwestern Pennsylvania - the headwaters of the Potomac Valley that
reach to the rugged mountains of Fayette and Somerset counties and; the waters
of the Susquehanna above the Blue Mountain water gap located a few miles above
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Evidence of the Late Woodland shell trade in these various
geographic regions of Pennsylvania becomes obvious by the locations of archaeological
sites. Ornaments made from different species of marine shell are principally
obtained from the Chesapeake’s intertidal and coastal environments. We should hasten
to note that some later Woodland groups obtained fresh water shells from the
shoals of large fresh water river systems for ornamental use. We will, however,
save this topic for another time and focus on the marine species found at
archaeological sites.

There are five principal species of marine shell that made
their way inland through trade from the Chesapeake region. These species are
distinctive in morphology and used differentially as personal objects of
adornment such as bracelets and necklaces. Among the more common, widely
distributed forms, were the tiny disk-shaped beads fashioned from the thin
sections of quahog a.k.a. hard clam shells Mercenaria
mercenaria. Quahogsoccur all
along the Atlantic coast and constitute a valuable source of protein among sea
food connoisseurs. Several different species of marginellas can be found from
Cape Henlopen, Delaware (Lowery 2012) south to the West Indies. Both of these
were popular among the lower Susquehanna Valley’s Shenks Ferry, Mason Island
and Monongahela groups of the Piedmont and Allegheny Mountain/Lower Upper Ohio
Valley regions of Pennsylvania (Heisey and Witmer 1964; Mayer-Oakes 1955).

Beads
made from a variety of shells recovered from Late Woodland sites in
Pennsylvania.

Another less common bead type found at some of their
habitation sites was made from Olivella (sp?)
a more southern variety of gastropod that occurs from North Carolina to Florida.
These resemble the classic shape of an olive-shaped fruit, however, they are
somewhat larger than marginella shells.

Busycon or whelk shell objects found in the Northeast and
Middle Atlantic areas are generally considered rare objects of the Late
Woodland period. Busycon contrarium
or lightning whelk and Busycon canaliculatus a.k.a. canaliculatum or channel whelk
are the most common and occur from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to Cape
Cod, Massachusetts to St. Augustine, Florida, respectively - a very wide
distribution, indeed.

Busycon shells were made into drinking
cups and tube-shaped beads of various lengths. West and south of the Middle
Atlantic region anthropomorphic/zoomorphic engraved gorgets were worn around
the neck. Carved from the large dorsal cup-shaped part of the Busycon shell,
these impressive shell objects are principally found in Fort Ancient and
Mississippian contexts that date to the circa 1000 – 1600 AD period. The
engraved Busycon shells are a principal artifact type of the Southeastern
Ceremonial Complex (Waring and Holder 1945).

Section
of a wampum belt illustrating the variety of color design combinations.

Wampum shell beads, characterized by
their short cylindrical shape, appears to be most common after the close of the
Late Woodland period around 1550 AD. Suffice
is to say that the English called this type of shell bead peag, a shorter version of the Massachusetts Algonquian word wampumpeag. White, purple and, rarely
black, are the principal colors of wampum with slight gradations within these
colors. The Dutch and French referred to wampum as zeewant and porcelaine,
respectively (Bradley 2011). These colorful beads were typically fashioned out
of quahog or hard clam and whelk shells.

The Chesapeake Bay and its inter-
connected river systems was the main corridor for the spread of marine shell onto
the Pennsylvania landscape during the Late Woodland period. Although adjacent
states can document a longer period of use (Lowery 2012), and this probably
applies to Pennsylvania as well, currently the evidence of marine shell use in
Pennsylvania is limited to the Late Woodland period. Preservation of these
objects is largely determined by the site’s environmental context.
Unfortunately, marine shell is a material that is rarely preserved in most
situations leaving few records.

We hope that you have enjoyed
reading about the different kinds of marine shells, their distribution through
trade and how they were used by the Indians who once lived in Pennsylvania centuries
ago. Please join us another time as we present another interesting topic relating
to Pennsylvania and its archaeology.

One Tank Trip

WFMZ-TV 69 from Reading, Pennsylvania visited The State Museum of Pennsylvania on February 8th, 2017. Karin Mallett prepared a feature piece on great places to visit that are one tank of gas from Reading and our gallery was the focus of this visit. Karin interviewed Kurt Carr, Senior Curator and Janet Johnson in the gallery and provide a nice overview of the spectacular exhibits. Please click on the link below and enjoy this glimpse of the museum during this One Tank Trip!
One Tank Trip: Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology

Followers

Disclaimer:

The views contained within do not necessarily reflect those of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) as a whole, nor the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.Comments and discussion are encouraged. However, posts that are deemed inappropriate or offensive will be removed. Users will not be notified when content is removed.